Fred Treece wrote:
Never heard this before, and I am just laughing because the Frankenstein band of 1972 sounds like country radio wants to be today. Mr. Derringer’s steel is pretty good on it.
This song is from the same album that Frankenstein is on.
A while ago, I sent Mr. Derringer an e-mail to ask what type of pedal steel he used on this track.
To my surprise and delight, he actually wrote me back and told me that it was a Shobud that he bought from Pete Drake.
Here’s another song that a new country band might want to cover:
When my cool older brother moved to Hawaii in '69, I inherited a stack of about 20 LPs which included "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" with Red Rhodes on steel. It remains one of my favorite albums of that era.
The first album with steel that I shelled out my own $3 for was probably "Tumbleweed Connection" by Elton John with Gordon Huntley on Steel. Best album EJ ever did.
Not sure what album I first bought had steel - good possibility it was Led Zeppelin III, Tangerine. I do recall hearing those radio station callouts that were done with an Alvino Rey type 'talking' device and a steel guitar....like on the little tracks between songs on the Who's album "Sell Out".
Red Emmons D10 fatback #2246D with sweet Hugh Briley split cases, Black Emmons S10 #1466S, '73 Fender "Snakeskin" Twin Reverb, Peavey Nashville 400, Line 6 Pod XT, Fender 400, Fender Stringmaster Double-8, too many guitars, one bass!
Not certain of which was first as I do not have the receipts.
Any one of the Steely Dan records with Skunk Baxter on steel or Elvis Costello's Taking Liberties (a collection of B sides) with John McFee on the pedals.
Powerglide by the New Riders - I knew my big brother liked the New Riders, so I assumed it was some kind of rock album, and Powerglide sounded rockin.. imagine my surprise when I heard the intro to Dim Lights...
I wore that album out (bought in approximately 1976), never played a steel guitar, other than bottleneck, till about 2010
Bill Sinclair wrote:The first album with steel that I shelled out my own $3 for was probably "Tumbleweed Connection" by Elton John with Gordon Huntley on Steel. Best album EJ ever did.
Oh. I forgot about that one!
Lee, from South Texas - Down On The Rio Grande
There are only two options as I see it.
Either I'm right, or there is a sinister conspiracy to conceal the fact that I'm right.
I guess I was "doomed" at a very early age. It was Uncle Don Helms with Hank Sr. I am told that as a baby they would play the radio with Hank Sr. tunes and it would calm me down. Later, it was the "Big E" on Judy Collins' Someday Soon and the Dillard's Wheatstraw suite album.
Last edited by John Haspert on 24 Mar 2018 6:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
I have no clue what album first had pedal steel on it, but the one that made me say, "I want to do that" was Sneaky Pete's segue from Take It Easy to Our Lady of the Well on Jackson Browne's For Everyman.
Well up into mediocrity
I don't play what I'm supposed to.
Home made guitars
In my case it was "It's Everly Time", their 1960 debut Warner Bros LP.
Of course, I was completely unaware of what a pedal steel even was, let alone the fact that I was listening to one of the very best - Jimmy Day.
Their next album ("A Date with....") featured their version of "Lucille". I tried to get to grips with the guitar solo only to give up, frustrated at my failed attempts on my Gibson Les Paul Jr.
It was to be a few years before I learned the truth - that, too, was Jimmy Day.
The first record I knowingly bought for its steel guitar content has to have been Steely Dan's "Countdown To Ecstasy".
Roger Rettig - Emmons D10
(8+9: 'Day' pedals) Williams SD-12 (D13th: 8+6), Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and several old Martins.
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